About Constance, Somatic Movement Educator

Constance Clare-Newman is certified by the American Society for the Alexander Technique (AmSAT). With a first career in training dressage horses and riders and a second career in performing and teaching modern dance, she is well acquainted with the needs of athletes and performers. She recovered from chronic back pain and injuries with the help of the Alexander Technique. During her career in Dressage, she competed at FEI-levels, (Federation Equestrian International) in the United States and Europe. As a dancer, she performed professionally and taught with Anne Bluethenthal & Dancers, Purple Moon Dance Project, Westwind Folk Ensemble and Ruth Botchan Dance Company.

In 2001, Constance completed a three-year Alexander training program in San Francisco with Frank Ottiwell, (1800 hours of study) and has continued her study with master teachers over the world. She is most influenced by Bob Britton, Giora Pinkas, Jerry Sontag, Yehuda Kuperman, Anne Bluethenthal, Tommy Thompson, Pedro de Alcantara, Jessica Wolf and Glenna Batson.

Constance’s teaching is informed by all the disciplines she has studied and her continuing education and exploration in somatic methods such as Continuum, Body-Mind Centering, experiential anatomy, trauma work and consciousness studies.

Constance has a private practice in Cape Cod, Massachusetts in the summers and in Palm Springs, CA in the winters and travels to give specialized workshops for performers and equestrians.

When I started taking lessons in the Alexander Technique to help with my chronic back pain and my performance quality, I had no idea that it would reach so far into my life and make me feel better on so many levels. I was astonished to experience that I had control of my pain and that by using the principles of the Technique I could change the quality of my movement to such a profound degree.

As I progressed in lessons, I began to realize all that was possible, from improving my dance technique to changing my daily “rushing around” mode, from calming down in lines and traffic to enhancing my meditation practice. As I began to realize how profound embodiment can be, I asked my teachers and other students, why don’t more people know about this? The common answer was “people don’t want to take the kind of responsibility that the Technique encourages,” but I’ve never quite believed that. I think many people work hard on themselves to lessen their troubles and improve their situations. It may be something to do with the difficulty of describing the Technique (because of its experiential nature,) or that it has been mostly used in the insular worlds of the performing arts. Whatever the reason, it is my mission to bring the benefits of the Technique to as many as possible. Schedule a lesson and see for yourself!